Magazine display rack

ABSTRACT

A magazine display rack for displaying a plurality of magazines comprising a wire mounting member and a transparent retaining member. The wire member has a spine provided with resilient substantially horizontally extending article supporting legs having feet at the ends thereof extending substantially normal to the legs. The wire member includes at least one support having at least a pair of substantially horizontally extending arms provided with hand portions extending normal to said arms. The retaining member includes a transparent front wall having a plurality of eyes affixed thereto for receiving the hand portions and has flanges adjacent the bottom and sides thereof. The feet resiliently engage the bottom flange.

llnite States Cohen tot [191 Nov. 26, 1974 MAGAZINE DISPLAY RACK [21] Appl. No.: 331,189

[52] US. Cl. 211/88, 211/106 [51] Int. Cl. A47t 5/08 [58] Field 01' Search 211/88, 106, 50, 55, 181;

248/DIG.-3, 223, 224; 312/108, 111, 107

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 252,655 6/1964 Australia 211/88 Primary ExaminerRamon S. Britts Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Kenneth S. Goldfarb 5 7 ABSTRACT A magazine display rack for displaying a plurality of magazines comprising a wire mounting member and a transparent retaining member. The wire member has a spine provided with resilient substantially horizontally extending article supporting legs having feet at the ends thereof extending substantially normal to the legs. The wire member includes at least one support having at least a pair of substantially horizontally extending arms provided with hand portions extending normal to said arms. The retaining member includes a transparent front wall having a plurality of eyes affixed thereto for receiving the hand portions and has flanges adjacent the bottom and sides thereof. The feet resiliently engage the bottom flange.

4 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures PATENTmuvzsmu Y 385030:

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PATENTEL NOV 2 6 I974 MAGAZINE DISPLAY RACK BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a magazine display rack for supporting and displaying a desired number of copies of a particular magazine or periodical.

2. Description of the Prior Art Various types of magazine display racks have heretofore been constructed. One type of prior magazine rack was constructed of transparent material generally of of a box-like shape open to the top thereof. This magazine display rack was very costly to manufacture requiring expensive molds for manufacturing of the parts thereof and was costly and inconvenient to ship being bulky and heavy.

Other types of magazine display racks in the form of wooden or wire racks have been used having usually metal front plates which did not permit full visibility of the covers of the magazines and were often so heavy as to be difficult to mount and install.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art magazine display racks by the provision of an arrangement of parts which includes a wire mounting member and a transparent retaining member so arranged as to allow for being shipped in a knockdown condition thereby requiring much less space for shipment as compared to prior art devices. The wire mounting member is adapted to be stacked in nests with other similar wire mounting members. Each of the wiring members includes a spine of substantially U- shape having horizontally extending magazine supporting racks. The wire mounting member further includes a pair of supports having horizontally extending arms. Portions on the arms and legs engage the transparent retaining member which is in the form of a front wall having a plurality of eyes. Feet on the legs resiliently engage a bottom flange on the front wall rigidifying the entire construction. In addition, the magazine display rack may be conveniently mounted on any wall or like supporting surface and arranged to be interlocked with adjacent magazine display racks or similar construction.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a magazine display rack capable of being shipped in knock-down condition and which may be designed for support of any suitable number of magazines and which is interchangeable in its parts thereof for ready replacement of any part that becomes broken or deteriorates.

Still further objects and features of this invention reside in the provision of a magazine display rack that is simple in construction, easy to install, strong and durable, capable of displaying magazines without distortion, easily physically or visibly, yet which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, thereby permitting wide use and distribution.

These, together with the various ancillary objects and features of this invention, which will become apparent as the following description proceeds, are attained by this magazine display rack, preferred embodiments of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, by way of example only, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of a magazine display rack constructed in accordance with the concepts of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken along the plane of line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view showing a modified arrangement of a portion of the transparent retaining member employed in the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the magazine display rack shown during a stage of assembly thereof;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along the plane of line 5-5 in FIG. 4 showing the magazine display rack during the assembly thereof;

FIG. 6 is a sectional detail view similar to FIG. 5, but showing the magazine display rack in an assembled state;

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the wire mounting member shown as connected to adjacent wire mounting members of adjacent magazine display racks;

FIG. 8 is a plain view of the assembly shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a partial elevational view of a modified form of magazine display rack showing means for interconnecting adjacent magazine display racks;

FIG. 10 is a partial perspective view of the interengaging parts shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a partial elevational view with parts shown in section of the assembled adjacent magazine rack as illustrated in FIG. 9; and

FIG. 12 is a partial perspective view of a modified form of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With continuing reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views, reference numeral is used to generally designate the magazine display rack constructed in accordance with the concepts of the present invention. The magazine display rack includes two main parts, a wire mounting member, generally indicated at 22, and a transparent retaining member, generally indicated at 24. The magazine display rack is so arranged that the wire mounting members 22 may be shipped in a nested condition so that a considerable number thereof will occupy a very small space.

Likewise, the transparent retaining member 24 is adapted to be shipped flat and may be shipped with a considerable number of other transparent retaining members so as to occupy very little space.

The mounting member 22 includes a substantially U- shaped spine 26 having an upper cross piece 28, including two downwardly depending portions 30 and 32 to which forwardly extending legs 34 and 36 are integrally attached. The legs 34 and 36 terminate in inwardly extending feet 38 and 40. Welded or otherwise suitably attached to the spine 26 are a pair of supports 42 and 44 which extend between the downwardly extending portions 30 and 32 and on either side thereof. The support 42 has two inwardly extending arms 46 and 48, while support 4-4 has inwardly extending arms 50 and 52. Curved portions, 54 and 56 are formed in the arms 46 and 50 and Lshaped detents 58 and 60 are appended to arms 48 and 52 with the detents 58 and 60 adapted to seat in the curved portions 54 and 56 to lock adjacent wire mounting member and hence attach magazine display racks to each other. For conveniently mounting the magazine display rack on a wall or other suitable surface, curved eyes or bends 62, 64, 66, 68 are formed in the supports 42 and 44. Upwardly extending hand portions 70, 72, 74 and 76 are formed on the arms 46, 48, 50 and 52 respectively.

The transparent retaining member 24 is manufactured of any suitable transparent plastic material and includes a front wall 80 having an opening 82 in the upper portion thereof as well as wing portions 84 and 86 extending beyond and terminating in side flanges 86 and 88 which extend inwardly. A bottom flange 90 is also provided on the lower edge of the front wall 80. Integrally formed adjacent the side flanges 86 and 88 on the front wall 80 are eyes 92, 94, 96, and 98 for receiving respectively the hand portions 70, 72, 74, and 76.

As shown in FIG. 2, the eyes may be either rectangular in shape or may be curved as indicated at 92 in FIG. 3 and are integral with the flanges 86 and 88 as to both save material and render manufacture thereof convenient.

As can be seen best in FIGS. 4 through 6, the device is easily assembled. The wire mounting member is ar-- ranged in a vertical position and the transparent retaining member 24 is then placed with the hand portions 70,72,74, and 76 entering into the respective eyes 92, 94, 96, and 98. Then, the transparent retaining member is pushed down in the direction indicated by arrow 100, FIG. 7, and the legs 34 and 36 are resiliently spread and/or lifted so as to seat on the flange 90. It is to be noted that the distance d between the top edge of the legs 34 and 36 and the bottom edge of the feet 38 and 40 is greater than the distance D between the lower edge of the eyes 96, and 98 and the upper surface of the flange 90 so that the legs 34 and 36 when in the position as shown in FIG. 6 will be under tension rigidifying the entire assembly and preventing accidental disassembly thereof.

In use, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a plurality of the magazine display racks may be arranged on a wall of other supporting surface in an interlocking manner. A plurality of magazines are disposed on the legs 36 and 38 with the magazines being readily visible through the front wall 80 and removable through access through the opening 82. The number of magazines that may be accommodated is dependent only upon the thickness of the magazine itself and the length of the legs 34 and 36 which may be varied in the design thereof as may be desired.

In FIGS. 9 through 11 there is shown a modified form of the invention in which the flange I88, correspondig to the flange 88 is provided with a dove-tail shaped tongue thereon while the flange 186, corresponding to the flange 86, is provided with a dove-tail shaped groove 122 therein for the interlocking arrangement of transparent retaining members.

As shown in FIG. 12, the arms 176 may fit directly into eyes 92 on the flange 186.

A latitude of modification, substitution and change is intended in the foregoing disclosure, and in some instances, some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features.

What is claimed is:

1. A magazine display rack comprising a wire mounting member and a retaining member, said wire member having a substantially U-shaped spine provided with resilient substantially horizontally extending article supporting legs having feet at the ends thereof extending substantially normal to said legs, said wire member including at least one substantially U-shaped support having vertically extending hand portions attached thereto, having at least a pair of substantially horizontally extending arms, said retaining member including a front wall having a plurality of eyes affixed thereto for receiving said arms, said front wall having side flanges on opposite sides of said front wall, said eyes being contiguous to said side flanges, said front wall having a flange adjacent the bottom thereof, said feet resiliently engaging said flange, and the distance between said hand portions and said feet being greater than the distance between said eyes and said flange for locking said hand portions in said eyes and for stressing said legs to better support magazines thereon.

2. A magazine display rach according to claim 1, wherein there are a pair of spaced supports of substantially U-shape each having a pair of arms having vertically extending hand portions attached thereto.

3. A magazine display rack according to claim I, wherein said front wall has a rectangular opening in the upper portion thereof for access to magazines supported by said legs.

4. A magazine display rack according to claim I, wherein said side flanges are provided with complementary interlocking tongues and grooves for interconnecting said magazine rack with adjacent similar magazine racks, said tongues and grooves being dovetail in shape. 

1. A magazine display rack comprising a wire mounting member and a retaining member, said wire member having a substantially Ushaped spine provided with resilient substantially horizontally extending article supporting legs having feet at the ends thereof extending substantially normal to said legs, said wire member including at least one substantially U-shaped support having vertically extending hand portions attached thereto, having at least a pair of substantially horizontally extending arms, said retaining member including a front wall having a plurality of eyes affixed thereto for receiving said arms, said front wall having side flanges on opposite sides of said front wall, said eyes being contiguous to said side flanges, said front wall having a flange adjacent the bottom thereof, said feet resiliently engaging said flange, and the distance between said hand portions and said feet being greater than the distance between said eyes and said flange for locking said hand portions in said eyes and for stressing said legs to better support magazines thereon.
 2. A magazine display rach according to claim 1, wherein there are a pair of spaced supports of substantially U-shape each having a pair of arms having vertically extending hand portions attached thereto.
 3. A magazine display rack according to claim 1, wherein said front wall has a rectangular opening in the upper portion thereof for access to magazines supported by said legs.
 4. A magazine display rack according to claim 1, wherein said side flanges are provided with complementary interlocking tongues and grooves for interconnecting said magazine rack with adjacent similar magazine racks, said tongues and grooves being dovetail in shape. 